Indian Railways to Offer Free Wi-Fi on Trains, US $1.1 Million Pilot Underway

According to Railways Minister Pawan Kumar, the Indian Railway is going to implement a free Wi-Fi pilot on the Howrah Rajdhani Express (HRE) that connects West Bengal to New Delhi. The 17 hour long rail route between the two cities, which covers nearly half of the subcontinent, traverses through almost all types of terrain that would help to rigorously test the satellite based free Wi-Fi service.

The satellite based connectivity would have a 4Mbps download link and 512kbps upload. Satellite antennas have been placed on one of the two power cars. Each of the train’s coaches will have indoor wireless access point that will allow users to access the Internet.

Users travelling through the train between the two cities will have to provide their passenger name record (PNR) number and mobile number to register for the access. Once registered, users will be provided with a login ID and password that will be valid for a single trip.

“Indian Railways intend to extend this service on other Rajdhani/Shatabdi/Duronto express trains progressively based on customer feedback and acceptance”, said Pawan Kumar in a press release.

Ravi is the founder of Parity Media and currently acting as an editor of ParityNews.com. He is a technology enthusiast with keen interest in information security. Ravi has over 6 years of experience and is keen on raising general awareness about technology in society.